West Bengal Left leaders assail Congress, announce agitation

Kolkata, July 8 (IANS) After deciding to withdraw support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, the Left parties Tuesday announced plans to launch an extensive campaign against the centre on the India-US nuclear deal and the spiralling prices of essential commodities. “We will start a sustained campaign against the UPA’s attempts to operationalise the nuke deal and its failure to curb inflation,” West Bengal’s ruling Left Front chairman and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Biman Bose told reporters here.

The Left would organise a rally in Delhi July 14 and begin a mass campaign from the next day. “The campaign will continue till August 31,” Left Front partner and Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar told IANS.

Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for announcing on way to Japan that the UPA government would approach the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for safeguards agreement, Bose said: “He has not done justice to his post”.

The four communist parties - CPI-M, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc - which announced withdrawal of support to the UPA, are partners in the Left Front that has been in power in the state since 1977.

RSP secretary Debabrata Bandopadhyay alleged the Congress had kept the Left “completely in the dark” on the deal.

“We had asked the centre to show us the text. But they did not. This deal will affect India’s sovereignty. They (the UPA government) have also sacrificed our independent foreign policy,” Bandopadhyay told IANS.

Majumdar attacked the Congress, saying: “The party had decided to sell the country’s sovereignty to the US. So, it did not pay heed to our opposition to the deal. When the country is reeling under the impact of the price rise, the government’s sole agenda is the nuclear deal”.

“We had supported the government on the basis of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The deal had no mention in the document. The imperialist forces want to establish their sway over India. This deal is part of that design,” he added.